Cotton-picker spindle.



' Patented out. "2 99999 s.

AUNirriD VS*Aff-1"?S PATENT OFFICE.

ANCUs CAMPBELL, OF PI'TTSBURC, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNOR rro AMERICAICOTTON PICKER COMPANY, OF PITTSEURQPENNSYLVANIA, A CORPO RATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

COTTONfPioKER SPINDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 685,439, datedQctoberj29, 1,901.

Application and March 2v, 1901. serai No. 53,054. .oro model.)

To all whom t may concern: n, l

Be it known that I, ANCUS CAMPBELL', a: subject of the King of GreatBritaimresiding 1 at Pittsburg, in the countyof Allegheny and 5 State ofPennsylvania, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Cotton-PickerSpindles, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My inventionrelates to improvements in 1o rotary picker stems orspindles for cottonharvesting machines.

My improvement is intended for use more especially in cotton-harvestingmachinesof the type shown and described in United States `1 5` LettersPatent No. 542,7 94, granted to me July 16, 1895. Each machine of thistype employsv a large number of picking-spindles, and the successfulOperation of the machine to properly gather and save the cotton dependstoa 2b large extent upon the peculiar construction of the spindlesemployed.

\ My object is to provide a pickingspindle of improved constructionwhich renders it peculiarly eiective in gathering cotton from the a5open bolls of cotton-plants and which will permit the cotton to beeasily and cleanly stripped from the spindle in the machine. ItV is alsomy object to provide a picking-spindle which in use will not injure thecotton-plants oand is comparatively free from danger of injury to itselfby striking the plants, and, furthermore, to provide a picking-spindlewhich may be manufactured at comparatively small. cost. 3`5 In thedrawings, Figure 1 is a view in ele-y vation of my improvedpicking-spindle; Fig. 2, a broken and enlarged view in elevation of thespindle, showing more clearlythe form of L the teeth; Fig. 3,-a sectiontaken on line 3 in 4'ol Fig. 2 and showing the construction involvingthree setsof teeth, and Fig. 4 a broken section taken on irregular line4 in Fig. 3 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

The blank from which rmy improved pick- 45 ing-spindle is formedcomprises a rod A, of steel or other suitable metal; about one foot inlength. The shank portion a is cylindrical and about one-third of aninch in diameter. The stem portion b tapers from the shank to i 5o theend, where it is about one-sixth of an inch 1 in diameter. The size ofthe spindle may b1 varied'as desired. In the stem portion an preferablyequidistaut and parallel longitu dinally-extending grooves c, extendingint( the stem more or less tangentially with rela tion to the center ofvrotation ofthe `stem Thus each groove presents amore or less un dercutside c. `Formed in the stem at thi undercut sideof eachgroove is aseries o: teeth d, the serrations being formed in thi stem itself. Iprefer toproduce the serrationi with gangs of rotary angular-facedmillingcutters, and the' teeth may extend at an angle of, say,forty-five degrees to the body of the spindle, pointing` in thedirection of the small end of the stem. The teeth may number, sayjfourteento the inch; but I do not limit myself tothe exact number,angle, or way o1 cutting. The side edges d' of the teeth,which are thesides toward the reduced or free end of the stem, are more or lessabrupt, while the opposite sides d2 of the teeth are beveled tc inclineoutward in the direction of the'free end of the stem. v

Owing to the undereutting and the angle of extent of theteeth, theirfree ends project comparatively -far past a line drawn radially from thecenter of the stem through the bases of the grooves, thus producing longAsharp points. The teeth project much farther over the grooves than theywould if the serrations extended transversely instead of slantingly withrelation'to :the body of the stem, which causes them to present longsharp points which will readily engage and hold the cotton while it isbeing' picked and wound upon the stem. The stripping'of the stem isperformed in the machine Vby sliding the cotton wound thereon in adirection longitudinal of the stem after its rotation has been stopped.lThe fact that the teeth point in the direction of the ,reduced end ofthe stem renders thisoperation easy to accomplish without cutting thecottonfibers. The inclined sides d2 of the teeth also facilitate thisoperation and permit thecotton to befstripped cleanly from the stem.

In practice the butt-end of the spindle carries a gear-wheel and clutchvto engage the Aclutch-pin a. shown, and the end portion of the shank aand v.part thereof between the pin and end of the/grooves rotate inbearings, rwhich purpose they are left cylindrical, described. Thetapering stem portion of e spindle extends about the length of the nove.

I have shown the stem provided with three .dercut serrated grooves c,this being the .mber I prefer to employ. The number of ooves may beincreased or diminished and e spindle otherwise modified without'dertingfrom the spirit of my invention as ned by the claims.

While the longitudinally-extending grooves re shown to be straight,obviously they may tend more or less spirally without departg from theinvention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure Letters Patent, `is

1. A pickingspindle for cotton-harvesters, rmed with a tapering stemprovided with a igitudinally-extending groove undercut at one side, anda series of teeth at the undercut side of said groove wholly within thecircumference of the circle'described by the body of the stem and eachpresenting an inclined face at its side toward the butt-end of the stemand pointing at an angle, to the length of the groove, inclined towardthe free end of the stem.

2. A picking-spindle for cotton-harvesters, formed with a tapering stemprovided with two or more longitudinally-extending grooves undercut atone side, and a series of teeth at the undercut side of each groovewholly within the circumference of the circle described by the body ofthe stem and pointing at an angle, to thelength of the groove, inclinedtoward the free end of the stem.

' ANGUS CAMPBELL.

In presence oli--v i WM. B. DAvIEs, ALBERT D. BACCI.

